Editorial style

UOW’s editorial style is based on the Style manual for authors, editors and printers, sixth edition.

For further reference (and if you can’t find guidance in this editorial style guide), use the Macquarie Dictionary as standard.

Glossary of UOW Terms

adviser, not advisor, however we do use ‘advisory’. E.g. Each faculty has advisers to assist you.

ATAR – Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, a number (not a mark) that allows the comparison of students who have completed different combinations of HSC courses used to rank and select school leavers for admission to tertiary courses.

bachelor’s degree see course names. Should be lower case with an apostrophe, unless the full name of the degree is being used. E.g. You can study a Bachelor of Arts. He studied his bachelor’s degree.

cafe not café.

campus names as follows: 

University of Wollongong Innovation Campus, UOW Eurobodalla, UOW Bega Valley, UOW Shoalhaven, UOW Southern Highlands, UOW Sutherland, UOW Wollongong, UOW Liverpool, UOW Sydney CBD. When including the word ‘campus’ e.g. for an event location this is to be in sentence case – besides University of Wollongong Innovation Campus

course names should be capitalised when referring to the full name, e.g. Bachelor of Arts. Otherwise use lower case. E.g. an arts degree allows you to... For the correct format and spelling of all UOW awards see the UOW Course Handbook.

Dean’s Scholar or Scholars Programs, always capitalise. Included at the end of the course name, in parentheses. E.g. Bachelor of Business (Dean’s Scholar), Bachelor of Engineering (Scholar) (Honours)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor is always capitalised and hyphenated

disciplines are the specific fields of study undertaken by a student. They should always be lower case unless using the full course name. E.g. Study law at UOW... Law students are expected to… To use the full course name see course names.

faculty names and abbreviations, capitalise when referring to a title. E.g. The Faculty of Business and Law. Otherwise use lower case. E.g. The faculty held an awards night... Our faculty’s mission is to… The business and law faculty… UOW faculty names (and abbreviations) are: The Faculty of Business and Law (BAL), The Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences (EIS), The Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health (SMAH), The Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (ASSH).

honorifics, Dr, Cr, Mr, Mrs, St (for Saint) are the only honorifics we shorten, so spell out Professor and Associate Professor in full. Use full title of Associate Professor or Emeritus Professor in all instances.

Honours, see course names. Where Honours is awarded, the word “Honours” will appear at the end of the Course Name within parentheses. E.g. Bachelor of Business (Honours)

learning and teaching delivery is described for student and public audiences, as online, digital or in-person. Never use remote. For internal-facing guidance on blended learning, and digital uplift, see UOW's Learning and Teaching Hub.

major, is the field or discipline in which a student focusses during their degree. Always lower case unless the full name of the degree and major are being used. E.g. he is doing a major in finance, he is doing a finance major, or he is doing a Bachelor of Business (Finance).

master’s degree, see course names. Should be lower case with an apostrophe, unless the full name of the degree is being used. E.g. You can study a Master of Business, She studied her master’s degree.

Pro Vice-Chancellor is always capitalised and hyphenated

positions/job titles, university staff have a number of sometimes-lengthy titles. Always aim for clarity and brevity. In most cases, list a person’s position with capitals before you list their name. E.g. Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health Executive Dean Professor Mark Jones, or Faculty of Business and Law Senior Lecturer Ms Jane Smith. When referring to an individual’s job without giving the full title, capitalise their honorific and name. E.g. communications lecturer Dr John Smith. For rules on how to formally display academic qualifications, see the 'Post nominal' information associated with the course in the UOW Course Handbook.

postgraduate, one word, lower case

remote learning or delivery, is never used to describe learning in UOW communications. Refer to learning and teaching delivery for alternatives.

school leaver, two words

schools, fall under faculties i.e. The School of Law is one school within the Faculty of Business and Law. Capitalise when using the full title, e.g. School of Law. Otherwise use lower case. E.g. law school interested her most.

sessions, periods in which subjects may be offered within a course. At UOW, sessions include the standard sessions, being Autumn Session and Spring Session, as well as Summer Session and Trimesters 1, 2 and 3.

study area, is a category in which a course or discipline fit. These are in place to make finding courses easier. They should only be used as a category title and should therefore always be capitalised and use an ampersand (&) where necessary, e.g. Arts & Humanities, Mathematics & Statistics, Business. Avoid using study areas within body copy.

subjects, are chosen from within a course structure. Always capitalise. E.g. Jane chose to take Programming Fundamentals and System Analysis during the first semester of her computer science degree.

undergraduate, one word, lower case

university, capitalised when referring to UOW or another specific university, e.g. The University is developing new research in nanobionics. Lower case for universities in general. E.g. Josh was excited to be starting university this year.

University of Wollongong and the official capitalisation is UOW (note, all capital letters) to be used from the second mention. Place in parentheses immediately after the first mention. E.g. University of Wollongong (UOW). No variations are acceptable under any circumstance.

UOW international campuses, refer to UOW campuses as below:

• University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD)
• UOW Malaysia
• UOW College Hong Kong
• Central China Normal University (CCNU) Wollongong Joint Institute

For regions and partners, refer as below:

• China (Tianjin Polytechnic University, Beijing Jiao Tong University, Zhengzhou University)
• Singapore (PSB Academy, Singapore Institute of Management)

Contact brand-uow@uow.edu.au for translated names. Refer to country, economy and region for correct usage of country, economy and region names.

Vice-Chancellor is always capitalised and hyphenated

Spelling, Grammar & Style

/ (the slash) do not use slashes to combine thoughts. E.g. stay in the estate/house.

abbreviations/acronyms, should be explained where they first occur on a page or a section, normally in parentheses, then used in following text. E.g. The University of Wollongong (UOW), is a global University. UOW has nine locations. Avoid using acronyms if they are not common terms used by the audience you’re writing for.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Use culturally appropriate and respectful language when writing with, for or about First Nations Australians. Refer to the You can’t say that terminology guide as a resource or Contact the Manager, Indigenous Advancement in the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre for advice.

and/&, Use ‘and’ rather than an ampersand (&) in body copy. In page and subheadings, an ampersand (&) should be used in course names, majors, faculties and school names, e.g. Faculty of Science, Medicine & Health, Bachelor of Information Technology (Web Design & Development)

alumni is an uncapitalised plural. E.g. UOW alumni are invited to participate...For singular forms, use gender-neutral graduate.  

am/pm, no full stops, with single space after the numbers: 9.45 am or 3 pm.

among rather than amongst.

Australian Government is the preferred term; the term Commonwealth Government is no longer widely used.

Australian states and territories should always be abbreviated in domestic communications. E.g. ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Tas, Vic, WA. For international communications, write out the name in full. E.g. New South Wales, Victoria.

capitalisation should be applied as follows: The correct format and spelling of all UOW awards can be seen in the UOW Course Handbook.
UOW majors: Capitalise. E.g. He studied arts majoring in Creative Writing.
Award levels: Lowercase. E.g. UOW offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
UOW advanced degree options: Capitalise. E.g. UOW students can apply for advanced degree degree options such as Honours, Dean's Scholar, Advanced.
Industry, profession, or study area without award name: Lowercase. E.g. She is a nursing student. He got a job in psychology. They works in public health. Pronouns: Lowercase, except capitalise for 'I', or the start of the sentence. E.g. She won't be able to make the 2 pm bus, so I offered her a lift.

career paths should always be lower case e.g. become a teacher, lawyer, nurse, engineer etc

comma, is used before "including" and "such as" when they are followed by a list. E.g. UOW offers many degrees, including engineering arts and business. Use Oxford commas to remove ambiguity in complicated lists or to ensure intended meaning is delivered. E.g. With Oxford comma: You can study maths, science, communication and media, and engineering and information sciences at UOW. E.g. Without Oxford comma: Subjects include maths, science and business.

cooperate, cooperative, no hyphen

coordinate, coordinator, no hyphen

country, economy and region names follow guidance from the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. When listing multiple territories or places where some are not formally recognised as countries by the Australian Government, write region not country. E.g. A delegation from UOW visited multiple regions including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.

CSP stands for Commonwealth supported place (Capitalise the C, lowercase ‘s’ and ‘p’).

dates, should be written in the below style (no ordinal numbers e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd)

Wednesday, 30 March, 2020
Wednesday, 30 March
30 March 2020
March 2020
March this year or March last year

The correct order is: name of day, number of day, month, year.

e.g. note full stops

email, no hyphen

face-to-face, with hyphens (not face to face).

federal government, a broad term for the Australian government, does not need to be capitalised.

fewer/less, use "fewer" when referring to individuals or individual items. Use "less" for quantities.

focused / focusing rather than focussed / focussing.

full-time with hyphen

gender neutral and inclusive language and appropriate pronouns are used to respect peoples' preferences and identities. Never refer to an unspecified single person as 'he'. Instead, rewrite using the plural form ('they/them'), or an alternative form avoiding pronouns (e.g. 'the person/student/employee'). 

E.g. Write All students must complete an exam not Each student must complete his exam. Write If a writer plans ahead, they will save a lot of effort not If a writer plans ahead, he will save a lot of effort.

Avoid gender-specific language whenever possible, e.g.:

chair not chairman/chairwoman/chairperson
police officer not policeman
parenting not mothering
supervisor not foreman
humankind not mankind
graduate not alumna or alumnus (singular)
alumni not alumnae (groups)

Learn the user's personal pronoun. If it's not clear and you can't ask, use gender-neutral pronouns, e.g. they, them, themself, themselves. When “they” is used as a singular, it takes a plural verb, so construct the sentence clearly to show that only one person is involved. E.g. Shannon said they hopped on the shuttle bus.

graduate,is an uncapitalised singular word to describe a person who has graduated. E.g. As a new UOW graduate, Alex was keen to begin a new career… For plural form, use gender-neutral alumni.

headings/headlines, capitalise the first word only unless using titles or proper nouns, just like in a normal sentence, e.g. Outstanding contributors to teaching honoured; or Australian Government awards $11.4m funding for UOW.

health care, rather than healthcare

hyphens and dashes.

En-dash can be used in place of a colon when you want to emphasise the conclusion of your sentence, or cases when you need to break up a sentence, in place of parentheses. E.g. Fast fashion – a term that refers to the speed with which designers churn out clothes – has become the beast that can’t be tamed. Use a space either side of an en-dash in a sentence, except when used to identify a range. E.g. The 2017-2018 financial year has been a success.

Em-dashes should not be used.

Hyphenate: Highest-rated university, Top-rated university, World-class, Real-world experience, Full-time, Part-time, First-year (check Macquarie Dictionary if not listed).

HECS-HELP, part of the federal government’s Higher Education Loan Program.

homepage, rather than home-page or home page.

i.e. note full stops.

indigenous, no caps for generic use (as in ‘indigenous to the area’) but always capitalise when referring to Indigenous Australians. Refer to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for appropriate usage.

initials, no spaces between initials and no full stops: JRR Tolkien.

internet, lower-case

lists, should be avoided if they are long and complicated but are okay when short. For simple lists in a sentence, use commas. E.g. We have campuses in Wollongong, Bega, Batemans Bay and the Shoalhaven. More complicated lists can use semicolons or bullets with a full stop after full sentences, e.g. UOW Open Day is your chance to:
— Get advice from UOW academics about the study areas and careers that interest you.
— Take part in faculty tours and information sessions, and see our facilities for yourself.

micro-credential, with hyphen (not micro credential or microcredential).

more than / over, over is not used with numbers, the exception is ages. More than 70 people. ... she is over 70 years old.

numbers, numbers one to nine are spelled out, 10 and above are in numerals: six men, eight boats, 35 kilometres. E.g. Instead of using you will study six 6 cp subjects, consider rephrasing to You will study six subjects each worth six credit points.
Measures that are abbreviated use numbers, the rest are written: 7km, but three litres.
Always use figures in percentages, e.g. 12 per cent. In rankings headings, tables and technical documents, a per cent sign (%) should be used, e.g. UOW among Top 2%. See per cent below.
But use: tens of thousands, a thousand-to-one chance, I’ve told you a hundred times.
Always spell out a number if it begins a sentence, e.g. Forty days and forty nights.

part-time, with a hyphen.

on campus, two words, without hyphen (not oncampus or on-campus).

ongoing, one word, with no spaces or hyphens (not on going, or on-going).

onshore, offshore, one word each, with no spaces or hyphens (not on shore, off shore, on-shore, or off-shore).

People with disability/disabled people. Mention disability only when it’s relevant to the content, and never describe people with disability solely by their impairment. 

Where relevant, refer to the person with disability in the way they choose to be identified. If a person chooses to be referred to as ‘a disabled person’, that is their choice; acknowledge and use. Many people say they have been ‘disabled’ by a society that does not recognise and/or adapt in recognition of impairment, which adheres to the ‘social model of disability’. So they choose to describe themselves as ‘disabled’. However, some communities of people use identity-first language, e.g. some autistic and deaf communities, where a member identifes as an autistic person, not a person with autism; or a deaf person, not a person who is deaf. Other people say they are not their disability, they are a person first: a person with a disability. They choose to use person-first or people-first language. E.g. person with cerebral palsy or person with epilepsy. 

Use appropriate clinical names, e.g. person of short stature not dwarf; or person with a mental health condition. 

People do not suffer because they have a disability. Never write 'Mitch suffers from epilepsy'.  Use has or lives with e.g. ‘Jenny has epilepsy, Tom lives with arthritis.’ 

Use accessible parking space and accessible toilet. Use wheelchair user/s notwheelchair-bound. 

Refer to The Australian Government Style Manual for more information.

per cent, two words in headlines and most normal body copy. Only use the per cent sign (%) in tables, ranking headings or technical documents.

program, in all instances, rather than programme. Unless part of a title, such as UK Settlement Programme.

quotation marks, use double quotation marks (“) for speech and quotes. Only use single quotation marks (‘) when you need to quote inside a quote, e.g. “I told him ‘Don’t worry’,” Mr Philips said. Never use quotation marks for emphasis.

rankings, use numerical references, e.g. 1st, Number 1, 2nd, 3rd, Top 2% etc. within the ranking heading. Use written numbers, e.g. first, number one, second, third or top two per cent etc. within the ranking description and any mention of the ranking in body copy. e.g. heading: Number 1 in NSW. Description: UOW ranked number one university in NSW overall (Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching 2020). However, if the ranking written in the ranking description or body copy is greater than ninth (9th), always use numerals, e.g. 10th, 78th, 91st etc. If the ranking includes numerous ranked positions, keep all placements numerical e.g. UOW ranked 91st in the world, 6th in Australia and 3rd in NSW.

remote delivery, remote learning, are each two words, with no hyphen (not remote-delivery or remote-learning).

URLs, such as: http://www.uow.edu.au. In copy, you don’t need to type the entire URL, so uow.edu.au is preferable.

while, rather than whilst

z/s, Australian English uses S not Z for words like organise, customise, capitalise, symbolise etc. Use ‘s’ in Australia unless part of a title e.g. World Health Organization.

Formatting

All text should be styled according to this editorial style (correct use of these UOW terms, and spelling and grammar). However, some channels and mediums may add visual styling at presentation. This means that content should always be keyed in according to this style, mindful that sometimes it may be presented differently (e.g. some styling on the web changes headings to capitals).

Text styling (or ‘hard’ text styling)

Editorial text including headings, subheadings and copy should always be set in sentence case. This text is correctly styled and entered according to UOW editorial style.

Presentation styling (or ‘soft’ text styling)

At presentation, e.g. in a subheading within a brochure, publication or website, capitalisation using Montserrat font may be applied for emphasis, or to demonstrate information hierarchy.

Example 1

Text styling: “University of Wollongong” Proper usage of the University name. Presentation styling: UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG

Example 2

Text styling: “Student business internship opportunities” This heading is sentence case because it does not contain a name or place, and it follows UOW editorial style. Presentation styling: STUDENT BUSINESS INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES